“Apple Inc., which has more than 400 million credit cards on file with its iTunes Store, is exploring an expansion of the mobile-payments system, said a person with knowledge of the matter,” Adam Satariano reports for Bloomberg.

“The initiative is being led by Eddy Cue, chief of the iTunes and App Store and online services, and he has tapped executive Jennifer Bailey for the effort, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public,” Satariano reports. “The timing of the payments effort isn’t clear, said the person.”

“The move would expand Apple’s reach into a competitive online payments field and potentially give it a new revenue source,” Satariano reports. “The credit-card numbers on file through iTunes could also be leveraged for a system in which an iPhone could be used as a new digital credit card, analysts have said.”

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10 Comments

Given Apple’s #1 rating for security amongst mega online sellers, at least Apple is aware of, leading the field and actively involved in analyzing and upgrading what they have while expanding their capability.

I have great confidence Apple will greatly limit any incursion that does happen and stop it shorter than other retailers who obviously only know after 40 or 70 million records are transfered out/stolen.

I have little use for such a app given the fact I pay using cash 99% of the time when I’m out shopping, dining, et cetera. Still. I suspect an iWallet type app will have major appeal for a lot of people.

I suspect it won’t be just Wallmart. Target would also seem a good candidate. With Costco it might be tricky, given their deals with Amex (and their business model, but any store that ships to customers (and is therefore directly competing with Amazon) will have incentive to jump on board.